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There are records in the Nuremberg city annals of Friedrich Staedtler’s activities as a pencil-making craftsman as far back as 1662. Generations later, his descendant would create one of today’s most useful artist’s tools.

J.S. Staedtler invented the first colored pencil in 1834. It was a colored oil pastel pencil which could be "sharpened to a point just like a pencil". In 1835, the city council granted him a manufacturing license, with permission to produce black lead, red chalk, and pastel pencils.

Staedtler had gained expertise from working with his father, Paulus Staedtler, at his workshop. He transferred this expertise to his industrial efforts. By the year 1840, his company was already making 63 different types of pencils.

Staedtler is now Europe’s largest manufacturer of black lead and colored pencils, but its original headquarters have always remained in Nuremberg, Germany. More than two thirds of all the writing instruments Staedtler produces are made there. The quality seal of "Made in Germany" has become an integral part of the Staedtler Company. [ visit manufacturer website ]